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Ceab-apple Catsup

A sweet and spicy apple condiment made with apples, sugar, vinegar, cloves, cinnamon, pepper, and salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Clove and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

Ceab-apple Catsup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the apples

  1. Scald the cored apples.

  2. Run the apples through a sieve.

Cook the ketchup

  1. Mix all ingredients together in a pot.

  2. Boil the mixture until it thickens to a jam-like consistency.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Clove + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  2. Apple + cinnamontop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,598 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).

  3. Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  4. Apple + clovetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,774 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  5. Cinnamon + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together4,890 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Apples
Provide the bulk and natural pectin that helps the ketchup thicken and set.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and, as the mixture reduces, helps it thicken and set.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that balances the sweetness and helps preserve the ketchup.
Ground cloves
Adds warm, aromatic spice flavor.
Ground cinnamon
Adds warm, aromatic spice flavor.

The step that matters

Boiling until it thickens. As water evaporates, the sugar and apple pectin concentrate and gradually set the mixture. Stopping too early leaves it thin and runny, while cooking too long can make it stiff and overly sticky.

Swap the apple

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, vinegar, clove, cinnamon, pepper):

  1. Limefits better
  2. Cherryfits better
  3. Figfits better
  4. Applethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, vinegar, clove, cinnamon, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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